This
morning, we set the alarm to be ready to depart the ship at 5:00am.
It doesn't get light until 6:30 so, armed with torches, we went
ashore, walked through the village and headed up a track in the hills
behind the village. After a 40 minute walk/climb, we came to some
benches situated in the forest on which we sat with our eyes pointing
skywards looking for Red Birds of Paradise which carry out a mating
ritual in a particular very tall tree at dawn each morning. Sure
enough, they turned up and put on an impressive display.
Unfortunately, because it all happened close to the top of the tree,
it was difficult to photograph but there are some photos whhich give
a reasonably clear view of what went on.
After
returning to the ship for breakfast, we went for a cruise among the
limestone karsts of Kaibui Bay including the famous Wallace Channel
being a channel discovered by Wallace which separates Waigeo and Gam
islands. We were supposed to do a drift dive in the fast running
water which flows through the channel but one of the divers was
nervous about it so we went elsewhere.
After
lunch, we had another snorkelling and diving session. It was pretty
good although it turned out to be another place where the above water
scenery was more impressive than the below water scenery. That was
our last dive and our last coral snorkelling session. There are two
further snorkelling adventures to come being our interaction with the
whale sharks.
Between
the various activities, there were presentations on the region
including both the marine and terrestial environment.
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